Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Grand Opening Celebration

At long last, I've got my first yarns listed in my Etsy shop! Fire Lizard Studios is open for business at http://fireliz.etsy.comHuzzah! Pictures, pictures!

All six yarns are available on Etsy. Each day I'll be adding more, so check back! These yarns are dyed using professional acid dyes, and I make sure the dye is completely set, so no fading, bleeding, or coming off on your hands. For all of the sock yarn, I skein the yarn with two strands held together to maximize the likelihood of being able to make two matching socks. It's still a hand-dyed process, so there will always be variations, and of course the degree of matching between the socks also depends on the knitting tension being consistent, but this process makes it more likely that the socks will match.I use two different base yarns. One is 40% bamboo, 40% superwash wool, and 20% nylon. It has excellent drape, is cooler than all wool/nylon, and is very durable. The other base yarn is 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon. This yarn is a bit finer than the bamboo blend and is also very durable. In comparison with the bamboo blend, it absorbs the colors to greater saturation--you will notice that the same colorway looks much more intense on the wool/nylon blend than it does on the bamboo blend. That's because wool and nylon both dye well with acid dyes, but bamboo, being a plant fiber, doesn't, giving the dyed bamboo blend yarn a bit of shine and more subtle colors. Both yarns are 4-ply to stand up to being worn and walked on.I'm very pleased to present this yarn, after what seems to me like a very long time but has actually only been about a month. I released the yarn to some test knitters first, and I've had a lot of positive reviews, so off we go!